A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 286 : Primordial Demon (4)

“…It may be hard to believe, but that is indeed what will happen.”

“…….”

“According to the records in the Apocrypha, one is merely the beginning. It states that once the era rife with fear begins to return, the unsealing of all Primordial Demonic Beasts is an inevitable progression.”

U-jin shared the same opinion as Leonardo Louis Button.

Just as he said, the resurrections of the Primordial Demonic Beasts had not been isolated events even in the First Round.

The first was the hardest; once one appeared, it didn’t take long for the seals on all the others to be released one after another.

After all, the moment the continent set foot on the path to total catastrophe was precisely when the Primordial Demonic Beasts began to break free.

That was exactly why U-jin was flustered by their early appearance.

If it were a point where the seals were merely on the verge of breaking, he might have been able to do something using his knowledge of the First Round, but from Louis’s nuance, it seemed that time had already passed.

Once a seal was completely broken, even U-jin had no way to reverse it.

Since the founding of the Guardian Cross Order, that was something only the Messiah could achieve.

He had to find another way, somehow.

Of course, that didn’t mean he was going to say, “It can’t be helped,” and give up.

Although the original plan he had established, assuming things would go smoothly, had fallen apart, he hadn’t been waiting around relying solely on that.

It was faster than expected, but he had already anticipated that the plan would go awry to some extent anyway, and he had measures like Plan B and Plan C ready depending on the specific situation.

He figured that even if things didn’t fit perfectly like puzzle pieces, he could somehow force them into place to resolve the situation.

While things weren’t going as planned right now, there were certainly things that had turned out better than expected.

“For now, it is only Leviathan, but the erosion of fear has already begun. I cannot give you quantitative figures or a specific timeframe, but… signs of the Primordial Demonic Beasts’ seals breaking will likely appear in other island regions soon.”

“…….”

“That is why it is even more crucial how we deal with the first one to emerge, ‘Leviathan.’ Our measures against the subsequent Primordial Demonic Beasts will be built upon the time spent and experience gained from this one.”

That was the ultimate reason Louis had gathered them here.

One might call it a sort of ‘Primordial Demonic Beast TF Team.’

New wine must be put into new wineskins; a new era requires a new form of adaptation.

The appearance of a Primordial Demonic Beast was, in itself, an incredibly extraordinary phenomenon that had never been experienced before.

While everyone was familiar with the term ‘Primordial Demonic Beast,’ the ‘appearance of a Primordial Demonic Beast’ was a completely different matter.

This wasn’t just about the people present here.

Even by the standards of the Guardian Cross Order, which boasted the longest history on the continent, this was the first time since its founding that they were facing a Primordial Demonic Beast directly.

The Guardian Cross Order traced its origins back to the Messiah who had sealed the Primordial Demonic Beasts.

Naturally, for the Order founded after the Messiah’s time, there had been no reason to face a Primordial Demonic Beast directly.

In other words, whether it was the sages of the past who built and sustained the Order or the influential figures gathered here today—no one had ever experienced this before.

Furthermore, the first appearance of a Primordial Demonic Beast was not just an ‘event’; it was more like a ‘turning point.’

A ‘new normal,’ so to speak.

Until now, the default state of the Primordial Demonic Beasts was ‘oblivion.’

Everyone knew they were incredibly powerful and akin to walking disasters, but people could distance themselves by thinking of them not as monsters threatening them right now, but as mysterious creatures that had appeared in the distant, ancient past.

However, once one appeared and was witnessed, the barrier of separation called ‘ancient times’ would vanish, and the threat would become far more immediate.

Of course, Louis’s goal in gathering everyone to prepare measures was to prevent the influence of the Primordial Demonic Beast from reaching the public within the Church Alliance in the central part of the continent.

Even if direct contact could be prevented, given the nature of the entity, there was no way to stop rumors of its appearance from spreading.

Some might ask why such abstract things mattered, but that was actually the most important part of dealing with a Primordial Demonic Beast.

The Order’s internal culture—classifying the Messiah’s detailed teachings on the Primordial Demonic Beasts as ‘Apocrypha,’ granting access only to the head of the Exorcists, and refraining from mentioning them at all—was entirely for the sake of that psychological barrier.

This was, of course, due to the growth mechanism of the Primordial Demonic Beasts, which used their unique ‘fear’ as an energy source.

While priests might have some relative resistance to that influence due to their training, the general public had absolutely no resistance to the overwhelming sense of dread generated by a Primordial Demonic Beast.

If a Primordial Demonic Beast were to invade the central part of the continent, things would spiral out of control.

Once they had swallowed fear and begun to grow, the existence of the Primordial Demonic Beasts reached a level that no one but the Messiah could ever hope to challenge.

In other words, while dealing with ‘Leviathan’ immediately was incredibly important, for Leonardo Louis Button—who had to take charge of matters related to the Primordial Demonic Beasts beyond just short-sighted responses—every single step was a challenge and, at the same time, a vital experience.

“…Those present here must put your heads together and devise solutions as we face the Primordial Demonic Beast.”

His tone was a bit too firm to be a mere request, but no one bothered to argue with Louis’s words.

The reason was simple. It wasn’t something they could avoid just because they didn’t want to do it, and they knew all too well that if they couldn’t come up with measures against the Primordial Demonic Beast here, there would be no ‘next time.’

Once things reached the end and all the Primordial Demonic Beasts were resurrected without any countermeasures, there would be no way to resolve it unless the Messiah descended again.

It was not a matter that could be avoided simply because one was unwilling.

“I take it everyone is in agreement. Then, first…”

“…….”

“We shall begin with the measures against Leviathan.”

* * *

As the discussion began in earnest, the first thing Louis brought up was the record of ‘Leviathan’ that appeared directly in the Apocrypha.

“First, the place where Leviathan is sealed is beneath the Shalit Archipelago, located in the southwest of the continent. According to the records of the Apocrypha, it was the very first Primordial Demonic Beast sealed by the Messiah.”

“…….”

“The name Leviathan means ‘The Coiled One’ in Ancient Runic. Just as the name suggests, it is a Primordial Demonic Beast in the form of a serpent.”

Louis originally hadn’t intended to mention the records of the Apocrypha directly, but because a few people asked out of curiosity, he had no choice but to recite the contents.

“Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook? Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words? Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears?”

“…….”

“Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering. No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against it? Who has a claim against it that must be paid? Everything under heaven belongs to it. I will not fail to speak of its limbs, its strength, and its graceful form. Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor? Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth? Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together… Shall I continue?”

“How much more…”

“I have only just read the first verse.”

However, the recitation of the Apocrypha did not last long.

The reason was simple: the more one read the words written in the Apocrypha, the more they lost their will to fight.

As far as U-jin knew, the records concerning Leviathan continued in a similar vein.

Nostrils like a seething pot or caldron, breath that kindles coals, flames darting from its mouth, a heart as hard as stone, strength that treats iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.

It summarized the form of the monstrous Leviathan that had swept across the continent during the Primeval Era.

When U-jin first heard those words, he had looked into the ancient books himself because he couldn’t believe them.

Furthermore, the contents recorded in the Apocrypha were all teachings that had come directly from the Messiah’s own mouth.

Considering the Messiah’s status within the Guardian Cross Order, the contents of the Apocrypha were structured in a way that inevitably sapped one’s will to fight and stimulated fear.

…There was a reason why its existence was kept secret from the world and only Exorcists were granted the authority to read it.

Of course, that too was because of the Primordial Demonic Beasts’ growth mechanism, which used ‘fear’ as an energy source.

“…Well, to summarize, the record ends with the postscript: ‘Every ruler cringes before it; the king over all that are proud is here.’”

It wasn’t just a simple metaphorical description.

The characteristic of the Apocrypha was that it depicted the era very minutely and accurately.

In other words, it meant that the human monarchs who had reigned supreme during the Primeval Era had been helpless before Leviathan, and that Leviathan was the king of all magical beast races.

“…….”

“The detailed contents of the Apocrypha are already in my head. I have read it thousands of times since becoming a Heretic Inquisitor, and I will explain any important details separately.”

U-jin thought to himself.

Judging by the nuance, Louis probably hadn’t intended to read the contents of the Apocrypha from the start.

It seemed he had deliberately mentioned it excessively because it was something that had to be addressed eventually.

Well, even so, there were no lies or errors in the content.

“…Well, it’s certainly clear that it’s monstrous.”

Though the image created by the description varied from person to person, it was a point where everyone could clearly see that it was by no means an easy opponent.

The important part started from here. The core of this meeting was how to confront the monster that even the Messiah had declared would be difficult for anyone but himself.

And at that very moment.

“…Let’s go with an all-out war.”

U-jin, who hadn’t opened his mouth since entering the tent, finally spoke.